Lachie Neale with his new baby son Freddie and wife Julie. Picture: Annette Dew
Premiership winning Brisbane Lions co-captain Lachie Neale is overjoyed at bringing home the ultimate Christmas gift, saying his new ‘baby boy is better than a premiership’.
Julie Neale, wife of the two-time Brownlow Medal winner, gave birth to Freddie Oliver at Mater Mothers’ Private Hospital on Monday December 16 at 9.30pm. He weighed in at 3.02kg, and was named after his star dad’s middle name.
“Look, it has been a big year,” Mr Neale said. “Having our healthy baby boy is better than a premiership”.
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Lachie Neale with his new baby son Freddie. Picture: Annette Dew
The Neales have more than enough room to accommodate their growing family this holiday season, and Freddie will be coming home to a three year old home in a beautiful tree-lined street, with a perfectly flat fully-fenced rear yard.
The Neales own a five bedroom home bought in Brisbane’s Seven Hills for $2.43m during the pandemic.
Mr Neale said this Christmas would involve a quiet celebration with family in Brisbane.
“We will be staying put and soaking up some family time,” he said. “It’s really exciting to have a little girl and a boy.”
He said daugther Piper cried when she met her brother for the first time on Tuesday and refused to leave him.
“It was special to see them together for the first time,” Mr Neale said in a statement.
Brisbane Lions midfielder Lachie Neale is co-captain of the squad. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/TheAustralian
AFL star Lachie Neale’s home is in Seven Hills, Brisbane.
The home is just 5km from the Gabba where the Lions homebase is and has surged in value by $320,000 since the couple bought it in 2022.
The Hamptons style home has 2.7-metre-high ceilings, wainscoting and louvred windows, an open-plan living and dining area, with a kitchen that has a stunning farmhouse-style sink and outdoor space that includes a glass-framed in-ground swimming pool.
The property is in the catchment areas of Seven Hills State School with several private schools nearby too including Saint Thomas Catholic Primary School, San Sisto College and Saint Martin’s Catholic.
Loads of room for the family.
The star Lions midfielder’s dream home is on a 696sq m block with a triple garage and a lawn that Mr Neale has found a solution for – going into partnership with Husqvarna for an automower to keep the grass down when he’s busy training.
Born in South Australia, he was pulled to Brisbane from the Fremantle Dockers after the 2018 season, sinking his salary into a $1.77m house in Coorparoo in Brisbane’s inner south in November that year.
He sold that first Brisbane property during the pandemic in 2022 for a massive $2.6m – gaining what amounts to just under a year’s salary for him off the rise in value.
Mr Neale earns an estimated $850,000 to $950,000 a year which is eight to nine times the average salary in Queensland and seeing him ranked 23rd in News’ AFL 100 in 2024.
Their first Brisbane home in Coorparoo has since resold this year for an undisclosed sum.
That first house of his has just resold in the last month for an undisclosed price, but it’s certain to be substantial given the 70 per cent-plus rise in home prices across Brisbane since the pandemic.
A thrilled Mr Neale described his son’s birth as exciting and “a lot different to winning a premiership” and has already had a crack at his sporting potential.
“We have looked at his calves and they are skinny – hopefully he plays golf one day,” he joked.
Mr Neale, who is locked in to the Lions to the end of 2026, had a flood of congratulations when he announced his son’s arrival on social media with almost 17,000 likes on his “welcome to the world Freddie” Instagram post.
Mrs Neale said Freddie was “eager to arrive” and was born about two weeks early.
“Freddie was due on December 29 but was in a hurry to join us for Christmas this year it seems,” she said.
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